The Patrian Transgression

Star Trek: The Original Series #69

by Simon Hawke

The "U.S.S. Enterprise" TM is sent to Patria I to discuss that world's application for Federation membership. But Captain Kirk and his landing party soon discover that the Patrians have a strict system of laws, laws that are enforced by a telepathic police force. In the midst of this startling revelation, the crew finds themselves in the middle of Patria's growing political unrest. Caught between the Patrian telepathic police force and a deadly group of terrorists, Kirk, Spock and the others must fight for their lives on a world where their thoughts make them criminals, and all crimes are punishable by death.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Star Trek Original Series, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy

278 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

About the author

Also published as J.D. Masters.

He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also written near future adventure novels under the penname "J. D. Masters" and mystery novels.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Merely decent, nothing more. Though not great, I've read much worse in this series.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a great fan of Simon Hawke's TNG novels, but he is clearly having a ball with the Original Series cast. This is a solid piece of work: exciting action set pieces, an interesting mystery, fantastic character work, a very Trekkian moral dilemma...and McCoy gets a girl! Add in a smooth-as-silk writing style, and the end result is one satisfying and entertaining "Star Trek" novel.

[Evelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading a handful of TNG books, It strikes me in TOS novels that Kirk is kind of an idiot sometimes. Thank God for Spock or he'd never solve any mysteries~

This book was pretty good though, albeit this is a concept I've seen & read about a hundred times before, ie 'Thoughtcrimes'. The hypocrisy and politics in this story were so frustrating that I actually had to put the book down and take a breath. In that respect, the book did it's job given that i 'cared' enough to even be annoyed.

Kirk had a great scene though, in defending some of Scotty's actions as acting Captain while Kirk was off-world, not only to a Federation Ambassador but to high-ranking Patrians as well. A very captainly speech!

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Patrian people are applying for membership of the Federation and Captain Kirk must transport Ambassador Robert Jordan, a former Starfleet officer and a friend of Kirk's, to Patria to investigate when a rebellion appears to be in receipt of Klingon weaponry.

Hawke has written a novel worthy of the series, which questions a democracy utilising a police service to proactively deal with crimes of perceived intent, with no clear villains.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Enterprise is sent to the planet Patria 1 who has applied to join the Federation, but there exists a state of war between the telepathic police and a group of terrorists supplied with arms from the Klingons.
An entertaining re-read

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engaging plot helps cover for some rather bland prose and awkward writing moments. Not one of the better-written of these books but the story moves forward fast enough to avoid any agitation.

[Paul Lunger · Rating 2 out of 5]

From April 1994, Simon Hawke gives us a story that at times tries to do too much too quickly & at times not enough. The story revolves around the Patrians who have invited the Federation in to consider them for admission & also to help put down a rebel revolt. The race itself has stumbled onto the outside community on their own despite being unable to solve the majority of issues that would normally lead to interstellar travel. Hawke's portrayal of the Patrians themselves comes off fine in spots but the rebel faction gets introduced briefly then ignored & then brought back as other plots on the story move forward with regards to this contact. It times the story is disorganized & likely could've avoided using the rebels & a telepathic police force as convenient plot devices simply to figure out where this story needs to go. The more intriguing part of the story perhaps is a love story for Dr. McCoy involving Ambassador Jordan's assistant Kim Wing. Despite the plot issues Hawke does manage to keep things moving along quickly enough but so much so that the ending almost feels like things being a case of "I need to wrap this up now" & does so. Overall despite the uneven storytelling "The Patrian Transgression" does stay true to the themes & characterizations of the original series but is really only a book probably skipped.

[Millstone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terribly written but rescued by a slightly better than average story than some of its stable mates. I like these, but only once in a while: nostalgia can only be used sparingly as a gloss.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

The diplomat is not very diplomatic at all. "They must be brought into the Federation, for their own good." I don't care if the Klingons are arming one side, that does not justify us arming the other side in the name of 'for their own good' because that's exactly the kind of thing the Prime Directive is written for. Partnership, not Paternalism. Which of course is the primary theme of the book.

The secondary theme, the MindCrimes police & their shenanigans... well, again, actually, is this a people we actually want in the Federation? Aren't our diplomats supposed to vet new civilizations, not necessarily recruit them? Maybe I'm too influenced by current, 2026, politics, and the war against Iran and the mess with Bibi & Hezbollah & Gaza etc. (etc.). But honestly if the Federation were to come to Earth right now I don't think we'd deserve to join....

And, yes, why is McCoy's love interest young enough to be his daughter?

The more I think about this book the less I like it. Marking down to two stars.

Onward!

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well Simon Hawke may not have done a great job with the TNG books that I read of his but he definitely has a great grasp on the Original Series characters.

This book has some of the standard fare of planet being influenced by Klingons and Prime Directive stuff but I think what makes this stand above some of the rest is the added dilemma of what is going on with the Patrians and the debate of losing something to the Klingons but the question if it's a society you even want to be involved with in the first place.

I think the story moved along well and the biggest fault is that the ending trips itself up a bit as it was running along so well and didn't quite stick the landing. Nice for Hawke to get some redemption for his Star Trek works in my books.

[R. Reddebrek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up purely to unwind when things had got a bit heavy. It delivered an interesting story that felt like it could've been turned into a script for an episode of TOS with a little editing, that's a positive and a negative I suppose, but I also found it an easy and pleasant read.

I was surprised to see the mystery plot develop into social commentary about power and the abuse of authority and how its pre 9/11 treatment of political violence. It wraps up the social conflict really quickly in the final act, but that's been a problem inherent in the franchise and here at least some lip service was paid to how it takes years, decades or more to truly heal deep political rifts.

[Nabil Hussain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thrilling and Exciting story!!

This novel was well written and had a lot of intrigue contained in the story. There was a fair deal of action as well. There was a lot of action explained by many words which made the novel quite verbose.This made the action to be perceived as long winded or convoluted. However, the novel's drama played out well and the story flowed seamlessly.

[Cora Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patriarchy Intrigue

Well written, although I didn't see the point of McCoy's love interest to the overall story. Plenty of intrigue and plot twisting to keep you guessing until it all ties together at the end.

[Ian Banks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of fun and a pretty solid Trek story, although I couldn’t see the point of McCoy’s romance to the plot or of Kirk being old friends with the ambassador, save for creating dramatic conflict in a situation that doesn’t really evolve.

[Monica Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Action packed book that explores the ethics of using telepathy to enforce the laws.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable classic trek with good characterisations

[Tom Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

found in a used bookstore in LA, had some fun parts and an interesting bit of political intrigue and a murder mystery, but still formulaic.

[Skylar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictable, with obvious continuity errors, but the book otherwise was a well-written political drama

[Reesha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, easy to read story that wasn't too bad.

The whole out of control police force situation was a bit too close to modern times for comfort.

I was, however, pretty disgusted by the relationship between McCoy and a 20-something secretary. There was no non-gross reason to not just make the exact same character an appropriate age for McCoy. It would have been nice to see him in a real romance, but the author felt the need to make it icky.

The plot might have made for a good episode of the series, but it wasn't impressive enough that I'll remember it for very long. It'll just kind of disappear in the noise of the not-bad Star Trek novels of the era.

3 stars.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In The Patrian Transgression, the Enterprise arrives at the planet Patria to investigate a plea for help. According to the planet's leaders, the Klingons are supplying weapons to a terrorist organization, threatening to destabilize the republic completely. The Patrians would like the Federation's help, but when Kirk beams down to the planet he is contacted by one of the rebels and told that the powers that be are lying to him. On the heels of this revelation, Kirk learns that Patria employs a relatively new police force called the Mindcrimes Unit, who are telepathic and target those who merely intend to commit crimes. While a Mindcrimes agent's word is good as evidence in courts, they are also empowered to end the threat on sight -- shooting alleged criminals in cold blood. Perhaps the rebels are in the right all along, but sympathy is hard to come by given that they're holding innocent civilians and Spock hostage. Ultimately Kirk and company unravel a criminal conspiracy with a couple of layers of complexity. The Patrian Transgression makes for enjoyable light Trek reading, as the author has a fairly good handle on the characters and produces quite a few good lines of dialogue. More unusually, it is McCoy who gets the girl of the week, this time an attache to the Federation ambassador. (Kirk is too busy arguing with the diplomat to play Romeo.) The opening third is quiet, but the action and tension really pick up from there. Star Trek Voyager later played with the idea of "thought crime", but the Enterprise crew are never targeted for violent thoughts here like Torres was. Transgression makes for a fun start to this challenge series.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another of a seemingly never ending supply of Trek books I picked up at a charity shop but so far the best of the bunch.
The characterisation as usual doesn't stray that far from the TV series which ultimately saves a lot of time...we know McCoy is a touch Techy..Spock is a Vulcan Sherlock Holmes and James T Kirk has an eye for the ladies(though in this one it's another crew member who gets the girl)and as such we don't have to invest much brain power getting into the characters...luckily this is offset in this book with a pretty strong plot.
It's a tale of conspiracy,politics and terrorism and as such it has a modern feel..despite being set within the remit of the original TV series the tale is very fast paced and less thoughtful and is a much stronger novel due to that.

[Andrew Beet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book like reading Star Trek novels that have the crew slap bang in the middle of a planet’s civil war and that is exactly what happens in this book. The author has got the characters of Kirk,Spock and McCoy spot on and the supporting characters are good as well. The character of ambassador Jordan is your typical person you see in Star Trek who doesn’t want to get his hands dirty and is more interested in his career and covering his own ass if things go wrong at the negotiation table with what’s going on with these patrian rebels. Like the scene as well when Kirk is trying to convince Jordan to help him out with the rebels and he doesn’t want to know.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay, but pretty predictable. As with so many ST novels, there's nothing to really pinpoint to dislike it, but it's not the greatest in literature ever. Just some forgettable fun, a guilty pleasure of sorts.

This one is no different than the others. Read it or leave it, it's just a fun little jaunt into the ST universe and back out. It's not the greatest, but it's not the worst, either.

[Phillip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good "Original Series" story. I did spot one typo in the beginning of the book (they called a ship by one name, then called it by a completely different name one page later). But I've found some Star Trek novels that do not follow proper characterization ... but this one did a pretty good job. I found the story engaging and interesting. If you are looking for a nice and cheap TOS novel, this will do the job. It's not the greatest, but it's good.

[Stephen Fender · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting twist on the "mind reading cops" and the people that fear them story line. The supporting players were well rounded, but not as three dimension as I'd like to have seen. The Enterprise crew was well represented, and it was nice to see McCoy get a little action this time instead of Kirk. The dynamic between Leonard and Kim--while FAR from being the center of the story--was done very well and felt 'real'. Two thumbs up for this fine Trek adventure.

[Kreg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Certainly one of the top 10-15 best TOS books I've read. A bit heavy-handed in places (mainly dealing with the 'diplomats' and telepaths), but characterizations were well done. Plot was excellent and held my interest throughout the book.

[J.D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a fav novel of mine, but a nice TOS read. The book could make a better impact if the problematic of Mind unit could be written in a few books not just one. Good idea, wrong format. The characters, thankfully, true to themselves. I did not like Jordan.

[ral · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent book- compared to some published Star Trek fiction. It gives a little more interest, and was easy to complete in the two hours that I did complete it in.

[Helen Fleischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

classic Trek, mind crimes, prime dir, started slow but picked up